Kōtei
by Kurogane7
Summary: A/U: Kōtei. The Emperor. When Uzumaki Naruto finds a strange fruit, he is empowered with an ability that could destroy worlds. How will the Shinobi Nations react when one with this much power rears his head? What if he decides the best way to unite the world, is to rule as emperor? Devil Fruit/Naruto, likely NaruHarem.
1. Tremor

_**A/N: You asked…now I shall deliver.**_

 _ **I will not OP Naruto in this story quickly, but I will see to it that he will learn to control his powers gradually.**_

 _ **As usual, your reviews will determine if this is a story worth pursuing; so do read and review, would you kindly? Other than that, keep it classy.**_

…

[Konohagakure no Sato]

It was a very cold night in Konohagakure, and it just so happened that all the restaurants were closed. Naruto knew that there was a lot of bullshit fired his way, because a lot of those restaurants clearly had people dining in them…the problem was with him for some strange reason. It would have been a good idea to go visit the Ichiraku family for more of that heavenly ramen, but the problem with that idea would be that he'd used up his last free meal ticket with them for the month and his monthly stipend was for all the utilities in his apartment. He _could_ go to the Akimichi clan restaurant, but he didn't want to risk it tonight if that asshole waiter was on shift…only other problem was that it was too far away, and he was too hungry to go that far.

 _What a_ great _time for the apartment to have problems!_ he thought to himself, _Seriously! First there's the explosion in the gas line, then the power to the building got wrecked and the water main just so happened to be in the same area…I mean, can it get any worse?!_

That left foraging the wilderness and perhaps supermarkets for fresh fruits and veggies. The latter tended to overcharge him for rotten produce, so that left him no other choice but to search the wilderness for real food.

Now, he was searching a wild apple tree to pick as many of the tiny fruit as possible. A survival guide he once gotten for his birthday had been helpful in finding berries and fruits that he could safely eat…and as much as hated eating vegetables, he was able to tell the difference between a wild carrot and a poison hemlock. He also managed to find oak trees that had plenty of acorns for him to pick up. This ensured that his diet was varied; the problem was that he could not hunt, unless he wanted risk being thrown in jail for poaching—this meant that he was forced to have a vegan meal every time he did this.

The good thing about it was that it was free, which meant that nobody could overcharge him on the food. Supply for this lifestyle could sustain him for as long the plants themselves could, which meant that he could to collect as much as he needed before coming home. That, and it always felt good whenever he found the freshest of wild ingredients for his survival…the idea that he worked this hard to pick out the food he needed with his own two hands, instead of needing to steal for it was always very satisfying.

The bad news was that he had to be careful not to let anybody find him taking this; lest they stake a claim on the plants he was foraging on, and have an excuse to call him a thief. That, and as much as he wanted to keep a storage of food for days like this, he needed to eat them soon before they went bad. Not to mention that even if he managed to keep things like the wild nuts for the long-term, there was a chance that some asshole could sneak into his apartment and steal or destroy the stash of food he'd saved up; he'd learned that the hard way when he found that he had cash left over from his utilities bills, and the landlady pretty much sold the looters the key to his apartment to do as they pleased…they stole every bit of the ryō he'd been saving up so that he could go eat somewhere nice for once. _And she told me it was an accident too…yeah right!_

Fortunately, he always kept a woven shopping bag and some extra sealing scrolls for emergencies like this. The former was for collecting the things he foraged for; the latter was to take with him so that nobody could destroy his food stores. And for that, Naruto had Iruka-sensei and Hokage-jiji to thank for making sure that he at least had an emergency food supply to keep himself well-fed—as well as how to use the storage scrolls. He also kept his store of dried ramen bowls for these emergencies to supplement his emergency food supply. After what happened with that looting incident, he was not willing to take any chances.

As he managed to pick the last of the wild apples for the night by the light of his flashlight, Naruto nodded to himself. "Great. Now I'll have enough of these mini-apples for tonight!" he said to himself. It was indeed a time for celebration, because in tonight's foraging run, he'd also managed to pick up acorns, wild rice, a good batch of walnuts, a large mix of berries he knew were safe to eat, and good number of wild potatoes. "Now let's see if I can't find anything else out here."

There was no problem with getting just one more thing today. However, Naruto's attention was turned immediately to a single nearby fruit hanging on a branch. It was a strange-looking thing; snowy-white with a rough texture, and growing among a branch full of ripe-red pomegranates. A quick glance to the left and right had confirmed that nobody was around to see him; and that this was good for the taking. There just so happened to also be some _really_ tasty-looking pomegranates hanging close by as well. Naruto shrugged. _Might as well. I hear pomegranates are good for you too._

Naruto unfurled the scroll, and carefully poured the wild apples into a pile. A few quick hand seals later, and he had a bag ready to pick some more fruit. With the bag dangling around his wrist, he climbed the tree; his first priority was for the white fruit. _At least it's on a pretty strong branch._

A closer look at the fruit revealed that it had the look of a world upon its surface; some parts of the texture were raised enough to resemble mountains, while the depressions looked like valleys. It also had cracks that went into the surface. _It looks kinda like that ball that Iruka-sensei keeps on his desk…I think he called it a 'globe'. Either way, I'm gonna get that thing!_

He reached out, hoping to grab the fruit from its branch. Naruto knew he had to be careful; he could very well land on his head, and break his neck. Assuming of course, his head was not going to crack open first. He reached out carefully, trying his hardest not to fall over. With a slight effort, and he grabbed the fruit. Satisfied with his prize, Naruto bagged his catch, and picked a few of the surrounding pomegranates. _I_ really _don't want to push my luck._

After climbing down, Naruto bolted out of the wilderness. He had a long ways to go before he got home to celebrate his find.

…

[Sunny Maiden Apartments]

Naruto returned to find his apartment complex, literally still in the dark. Thankfully, the gas main was now repaired, if the fact that there was no longer any smoke in the area were any indication…at least he didn't have to worry about getting cooked or poisoned in his sleep. The only problem with that was the power to the building still being knocked out; and perhaps the water main also still flooding the basement. The sight of water-draining equipment nearby confirmed that train of thought. _If I'm right, that old hag is going to charge me extra for this; whether I did anything or not. Better not let her see me then._

He had to tiptoe around the lawn. The landlady had the highest tier in the four-story apartment complex, and thus, the best view with which to snoop or spy in all directions. And if she felt particularly sadistic, she would 'accidentally' sell the spare keys to some low-lives, and turn a blind eye to them trashing his apartment while he was away. In exchange, any cash they found lying around was to be handed to her.

Thankfully, the light to her entire floor was off; and he could not see any sign that she was watching out of any window. Still, he had to be careful; he'd learned the hard way that she had her ways of figuring out how long he'd been out. _One of these days, the old hag will get hers,_ he swore. _Because of that…that…geh! Because of that devil-woman, I've spent as much money changing locks and doors as I do fixing the place up! One of these days, when I become a shinobi, the first thing I'm going to do is to get my own place so that she can't do this to me anymore._

To this end, Naruto always kept his sealing scrolls on his person; with the intent of saving enough money to get out of the apartment he lived in, and getting his own place. If he had to move out to the outskirts of town, then so be it. At least he would not have to deal with the old hag anymore. Hell, even a cabin in the wilderness sounded like a better place to live in. _I'm almost there; just have to save a little more cash and I can move out._

The steps through the pavement were careful and quiet. This was bar none, the best stealth training he had to go through…the landlady could tell who you are by the way you walked through her apartment complex. Over the years, he had learned to walk like a cat if he wanted to avoid being forced to pay her yet another 'protection' fee on top of the already high utility fees; paying this fee meant that there was a high chance that she would not let the apartment get trashed…but even that was no guarantee.

Once he made it to the wall, Naruto decided not to take any chances that she could be listening. So he decided to scale the walls using the power in his legs and the balconies. It was a good thing then that he were forced to take up freerunning to avoid being caught by shinobi after a prank. Taijutsu practice and obstacle courses also made him gain muscle, in spite of being forced to ration his fresh food; not to mention being forced to go vegan, as dried fruits and veggies tended to last longer than meat. He had to take it slowly, lest the landlady heard him make heavy-handed motions.

One jump up, and he was able to climb up to the second floor balcony, doing his best not to let out even a grunt. Once he got to the top rung of the balcony, Naruto knew he had to be extra careful; his apartment was just above on the third floor. This meant that the landlady was likely within hearing distance. The next jump had him grabbing into the floor of the balcony before he clambered up quietly. After landing into the balcony of his apartment as lightly as he could, he hazarded a glance upward…she was not there; she must really have been very tired tonight.

Still not wanting to be caught dead with her breathing down his neck, Naruto took light steps towards his sliding glass door, only to find that it was broken from the inside. _No, no, no, no! I paid your damn protection fee this week! Why'd you have to let this happen today?!_

Naruto sighed in frustration as he looked at the damage: it appeared that they bashed down the doors this time…likely with fire axes if the marks were any indication. Apart from that, the floorboards were smashed to pieces; his used and old TV set had a table leg inside the screen; the TV _antenna_ was now antenna-less; his couch bed for guests was pulled out and cut up; his cooktop was bashed up along with the stove; even the microwave was smashed to pieces on the floor. The night just couldn't get any worse for him, but he still had other priorities; he checked every graffiti-lined wall of every room for anyone that was still in the apartment. This time a sigh of relief, when it was confirmed that there was nobody in there. _Doesn't change the fact that I now have no bed to sleep on._

He couldn't be mad at the Hokage; he was just too busy to help him with anything, much less find the time to come check up on him. From the mountain of paperwork he once saw when he walked into his office, he felt a bit of guilt that he contributed to that pile somewhat. Naruto didn't want to add to the old man's troubles any more after that…which was why he made his pranks easy to clean up afterwards.

He just couldn't be mad at the shinobi that came to visit him from time to time; it wasn't their responsibility that his apartment was trashed…again. They had their daily lives to worry about, and they were probably out on missions anyway. Plus, it made him feel bad to have to ask them for help.

Crazy-Snake Lady next door was actually one of the nicer people to him, but she'd just moved in a few days ago; he couldn't just talk to her about his problems, it just didn't seem fair. Especially when it looked like she had her own problems to deal with. Not to mention that she's been out since this afternoon by the looks of it, so her friends would probably be bringing her home late tonight.

Heaving a very cathartic sigh, Naruto settled down on the remains of his table. Even though he had to work for it, he _had_ to celebrate something; if only to take his mind off the fact that his apartment was trashed yet again. He searched through his storage seals, and found his prize: the strange white fruit. Looks like tonight, he's having pomegranate with this thing for dinner. He raised the white fruit dramatically as though in toast, his voice low so that the landlady couldn't hear him. "I dedicate this first bite to silver linings. May my days be better after tomorrow."

A bite into the white fruit felt the bitter juices going into his mouth. Naruto had to force himself to swallow it; after all, the Ichiraku family would have killed him if they learned he wasted food. He then looked into the fruit, and saw that the colors inside were like the reverse of a pomegranate: white skin and seeds, and a deep red flesh. He simply shrugged. "Tastes like crap, but I guess that is how it tastes like to be a loser. Just gotta remember not to taste this in my mouth again."

He forced himself to finish the foul-tasting fruit, accepting its unbearably bitter flavor as a fact of life. After today, Naruto refused to taste the flavor of bad food ever again. Besides, he had some fresh pomegranates on hand to was that terrible taste out of his mouth, so at least he had that problem taken care of. When he was done, he then bit down on a fresh pomegranate, allowing the fresh juices to assault his tongue with a rush of tart flavor. He had several more to go through.

"I hope you enjoyed that," came a voice from the doorway. Naruto froze as he recognized that cracked voice from anywhere. He turned to the ruined remains of his door, and found the silhouette of someone he most definitely didn't want to see tonight. Her legs and belly were pretty chubby, but her arms and upper body were scrawny. The wrinkles of age had made it hard for Naruto to tell if the landlady looked more like a hairless rat or a fat monkey with a bad shave. _A rat…definitely a rat. And every bit as ugly inside as she is outside._

The wicked smirk on her face made it more than obvious what she'd done. "You owe me extra money for what they did to my apartment," she began, "And for bringing in food from the outside."

"Oh come on now!" Naruto snapped, "First you get me to pay your protection fee, then you get me to pay for just trying to eat something good? What more could you want from me?"

"Every bit of that money I know you keep stashed away." she says with a sneer. "All that money you've got. I could care less about you; you could go to hell for all I care, but I want every bit of that money you've been collecting."

Naruto recoiled, his half-eaten pomegranate dropping from his hands. _How did she know that?_

"You're going to pay for every bit of the damages you've done to the building, you little monster," she growled, "And you're going to pay with that money you have tucked away."

"You and I both know the old man will pay for it," Naruto yelled. "In fact, I'm pretty sure he's already going to do that, SO WHY THE HELL ARE YOU BUGGING ME ABOUT IT?!"

The landlady closed the gap pretty quickly, and landed a very savage slap that slammed Naruto's head on the ground. "SHUT UP BRAT! Demons like you don't deserve anything. Now, I expect you to compensate me with every bit of YOUR money! And not even your precious Hokage will pay for the damages for you when I tell him that you sabotaged the gas main!"

As Naruto got back up on all fours to nurse his swelling cheek, the landlady smirked. "Oh poor thing…did that hurt? GOOD! That's what I counted on! And if you don't want me to do that to you again, you will give me all that money! Including whatever money the Hokage is going to give me!"

Naruto watched as the old hag left the apartment. This was the last straw; now his temper ruled. He began punching the ground in rage. The first punch had caused a bit of the detritus in the area to bounce. The second had dug a few splinters into his fist. The final punch however, had the strange effect of feeling like he was hitting a weak glass instead of wood; cracks spider-webbed from the point of impact around Naruto's hand. _What the hell was that?_ he asked himself, wide-eyed in curiosity.

Before long, Naruto felt something trembling underfoot. The next tremor that came hit him extremely hard, shaking the world up and down. It hit so hard that the floor finally gave way, causing Naruto to fall through screaming as the apartment complex was destroyed around him…

…

[The next morning]

Hiruzen was overseeing the disaster at the "Sunny Maiden" apartment complex. Whatever he was seeing was possibly a best-case scenario…seismologists had reported that a mild earthquake had hit the village, but the apartment complex was totally destroyed. There was no surprise there; the landlady of that building was known to be a money-grubbing harlot, Nezumi who did little in the way of maintaining her stake. The woman was known for such things, even when she was an orphanage matron that forced her children to drone out "We love you Nezumi-sama…" in very dead voices.

Recovery efforts to search through the rubble of the apartment complex was underway after the large quake. At the moment, shinobi sapper teams were at work trying to rescue as many people as they could from the wreckage. So far, the evil woman was found dead in the rubble; along with a few unfortunate tenants that were in the building at the time. Though a good number of other tenants either survived, or had the sense to move out to a nearby motel. _Well, that's one bit of good news._ he thought to himself. _Problem is that Naruto-kun was last seen heading back to this place. I_ knew _I should've at least moved him out of this place!_

He hazarded a glance to the left, and saw that Anko was very busy digging through the rubble. It just so happened that she was out drinking with her friends as usual; when she got back to the apartment, she'd seen that it was totally destroyed. Even worse was that she and Naruto become very fast friends within the few days she'd moved in, and she was doing her best to help dig him out. It made Hiruzen even sadder to know that this could've been avoided if he'd assigned her to go to that place sooner to make sure it was still safe to live in.

Hiruzen sighed as he walked towards Anko, searching through the remains. "How are you holding up?"

"How do you think?!" snapped Anko, before reining herself back in upon realizing who she was talking to. "Sorry about that, Hokage-sama; it's just…it's only been a few days since I moved in. Then he comes into my life and we get along really fine y'know?"

"I'm sure he's…" Hiruzen was cut off when he heard something faint. Anko was about to ask what was going on when he raised a hand for silence. He tuned his ears to pick up the faintest of sounds, and heard something like 'HELP!' being shouted in the area. It was muffled, but he could hear the voice.

There was no question about it; Hiruzen needed to act now. "I need some excavators here now!"

On command, the shinobi in the area went to work, digging up the rubble. Large pieces of concrete were pulled out, with Anko joining in. When a large enough hole was created, she reached in and found the very person she was looking for; coughing out some concrete dust and looking bedraggled. "Naruto-kun! Hang in there!"

What Hiruzen saw upon being pulled out was a sorry sight. Naruto was obviously cut up by the rocks along the way down, and lord knows how many broken bones that were being repaired by his tenant. Either way, this mistreatment ended today; no more being weak, and no more catering to civilian politics. Which was why Hiruzen was making plans in his mind at lightning speed…

…

 _ **A/N:**_

 _ **Kuro: How're you ladies and gents doing? I'd like to thank Soleneus and UnitedOsprey1991 for help in this work. While you're at it, would you kindly check out their works too, and give them a review or two?**_

 _ **Sol: Yo. Glad to have been of some help. Looks like things in Naruto are going to be changing, eh? Makes you excited, right?**_

 _ **Kuro: And he still gets to be empowered by the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Again, he's not going to be OP'd that quickly; I'll have him work his way up so that he at least has a bit of knowledge. Though I wonder…how will Hiruzen take to learning that Naruto now has power over quakes?**_

 _ **Sol: Considering he's a smart man, he'd be cautious but excited. I'd be. I'd only laugh maniacally for one, two hours tops.**_

 _ **Kuro: Anyway, please leave a review, and keep it classy people.**_


	2. School

_**A/N: Finally, this gets updated. With any luck, we'll have more chapters in the future…and that this one is up to snuff. Either way, do read and review would you kindly? And please keep it classy.**_

…

[Konohagakure, two years later]

Birds sung loudly and sweetly, trying their hardest to find mates in the wilderness. Their songs were mixed in with the raucous of exertion and wooden objects colliding with each other. Uzumaki Naruto landed on the ground, wearing a padded white gi and indigo hakama, over which he wore a dō made of lacquered and hardened leather. He also wore a pair of open-toed sandals and a pair of suneate that were hidden under his hakama. In his kote-wearing hands, he wielded a solid oak pole that was carved into the shape of a naginata, with a shorter oak stick in the shape of a wakizashi.

His opponent was a girl with buns in her hair, wearing a sleeveless pink qipao. She wielded a pair of wakizashi-sized bokken that she brought down on him. Naruto was able to block with the shaft, but knowing Higurashi Tenten, this was not her strongest blow; she used Naruto's parry to bounce herself off, and strike him in his dō. That one strike was hard enough to knock him onto his ass, and scissor the wooden blades around his neck.

"You're getting better by the day Naruto-kun, but I still beat you!" the bun-haired girl teased.

"Damn it, Tenten! It has to've been a thousand fights and I still can't win!" Naruto cursed. "Seriously! Don't you ever get tired of winning?"

Tenten stood up with a silence that seemed to be of mock consideration…before her answer came out as a quick and teasing "No." She laughed as she sheathed her wakizashi bokken, helping Naruto up. "But seriously; if you're so tired of losing, then why aren't you switching weapons?"

"At least I'm taking the time to really get to _know_ my weapons," Naruto reminded her, "Besides, didn't sensei tell you the same thing?"

"Oh, don't bring mom into this!" Tenten fired back as the two of them walked on home. "Not unless you want me to tell the whole class tomorrow how you got your ass owned by a girl a thousand times!"

He snorted. "What, am I supposed to be intimidated by that? So I lost to a girl, how's that supposed to be threatening?"

It'd been two years since the earthquake that destroyed Naruto's apartment and things were getting a bit better. The Hokage had made arrangements for him to live with Tenten's family shortly after he got out of the hospital. That and records were found that proved Nezumi had been short-changing Naruto on a lot of things; going so far as to make him pay 'protection money' in addition to the premium he had to pay for his utilities alone. And all so that she could piss it all away in casinos and illicit drugs that may or may not have included amphetamines. In response to that, he ordered to have all her assets seized, liquidated and given to Naruto in compensation; all her gambling and drug debts were turned over to her family.

With the destruction of the apartment, people tended to tread _very_ carefully around him. It was their belief that the fox had given him the power to start that small-scale earthquake. Since that time, he'd taken to experimenting outside the village whenever Tenten's mother gave him a break from naginata training. So far, he was able to figure out that the earthquake power was triggered whenever he liked, but what happened at the apartment complex that night had been an accident. He could control the quakes to a limited extent by channeling it through his hands, but he had to work hard to keep his emotions in check; lest he cause more collateral damage.

In the meantime, while he stayed with Tenten's family, he picked up naginatajutsu to pass the time until he was strong enough to use a tanren bō for proper kanabo- or kenjutsu training. A few pointers and a solid foundation in tai- and bōjutsu from the Hokage had helped his skill, but it didn't change the fact that Tenten kept beating him down. Not when she could switch weapons on him on an almost daily basis. One day she'd use a katana or naginata-style bokken on him, the next she'd bring out some nunchaku or tonfa. Still, it kept him on his toes and forced him to adapt to every situation; which was why he'd taken to learning how to use a wakizashi should things get too close for his naginata to handle.

"You think this'll let give me better chances against Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I honestly don't see why you two go at it that often," sighed Tenten, "I mean, it's not like he's better than me is he?"

"Trust me. The guy is definitely way better than you…I'm betting he'd even beat out that guy you ogle so much."

"Don't exaggerate!"

Naruto shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, yeah. We'll see about it tomorrow then."

"Ah, don't be like that; you already have a pretty good foundation!"

"It's not gonna help if we're going to be sparring in class again," Naruto informed her moodily, "Iruka-sensei won't let me bring my naginata in to fight with. He's gonna call me out on it; stuff like 'it's dangerous!' 'It's unfair!' And of course, my favorite: 'what're you going to do with a weapon that big anyway?!' I mean seriously! It's like he's picking on me specifically!"

"Well I'm in the same boat. I can't use anything _but_ taijutsu…though to be fair, it _is_ called 'taijutsu sparring,'" Tenten agreed gloomily, patting Naruto on the back, "Any serious weapon training would have to be picked up when we become genin; and besides, as much as I hate to say this, he's right—a naginata is _not_ as versatile as you think."

"I get that, but he could be less of an ass about it," the blond grumbled, "I wonder if I should tell him about the prank that's going to happen tomorrow…?"

Tenten turned to look at him with a somewhat horrified expression...shortly before it melted away into sadistic interest. "What'd you have planned for him?"

"Whoever said anything about planning? It's already done!" Naruto chirped, the devious grin clear on his face, "You just won't see it 'til he does the morning lesson."

"I'll hold you to that. But now, we gotta get home; mom and dad are gonna kill us if we're late for dinner again." It was true; Tenten's parents weren't anything like the villagers, who either ignored or glared at Naruto behind his back. They _were_ however, very strict on discipline; it's not that they were abusive, they just wanted to make sure that any children in the house did not wind up being spoiled brats.

The emphasis on discipline in the house also stemmed from their love for their daughter's and now Naruto's sake, making sure they were prepared for whatever life threw at them. It was to make sure they were capable of giving their all in whatever trade they chose to pursue. Other than that, the Higurashi couple were very good people and exceedingly skilled craftsmen; no doubt the discipline they enforced on Tenten and Naruto had helped keep _them_ alive as chūnin. It also contributed to a seamless teamwork that allowed them to consistently churn out high-quality weapons and armor day in and day out.

[Somewhere nearby…]

Several figures hid away in the treeline, watching as Uzumaki Naruto and Higurashi Tenten left the training ground. All four of them stood dead-still, the ambient sounds of nature masking their presence and their heartbeats. It was an easy task to hide in a wooded area, especially since their target had yet to master basic survival skills, much less chakra detection. Still, there was a job to do; and dangerous as it may be, these shinobi were determined to see it through.

The porcelain-colored animal masks they wore marked them all as ANBU, but the fact that they refused to be seen at all made it clear that they were not exactly here on official business.

"Looks like the subject is not training in his quake-powers today," mused one of the ANBU, "A shame. Danzo-sama was very interested in seeing how far he could take it."

"I hear that," said another ANBU, "and I can honestly see the potential of such a power." Ever since Uzumaki was house-broken, people were investigating as to the cause of the quake. After some operatives walked across the boy practicing on his own, as small quakes had been happening in the village, Shimura Danzo had been keeping a close eye on his progress. The Jinchūriki had what amounted to a kekkei genkai that allowed him to cause earthquakes of varying magnitudes. This would undoubtedly make him into a living weapon of mass destruction, as the ability to generate earthquakes was like a meat-cleaver to the scalpel that was his ROOT cell.

However, there was still the problem of Hiruzen keeping his ear to the ground when it concerned Uzumaki. If a kidnap operation was mounted and botched, then Danzo was looking at a raid that would make what happened at Orochimaru's lab look like a tea party by comparison. Still, he entertained the idea of abducting Uzumaki when the time was right…preferably when the Sandaime Hokage had already died. And since the Higurashi family was charged with raising Naruto, it stood to reason that they'd be baying for blood…with some of their newer weapons at the ready.

"Let's return to base," said a ROOT operative, sitting up from his surroundings, "there's nothing to see."

With all four of them in assent, the four ROOT operatives vanished in a blur. Their steps were so swift that not even a leaf was overturned.

…

[Daishōgun Smithy, morning]

If one were to sum up the entirety of the Daishōgun's inventory, 'art gallery' would be the first thing to come to mind. In the time since they'd come back from the Third Shinobi World War, the Higurashi couple had taken references from various weapons they'd collected from around the world. Combine that with their emphasis on discipline, and they practically became a brand name that churned out the finest quality weapons and armor in Konoha going-on twenty years straight.

Naruto walked along the aisles with Tenten escorting him. He never could get tired of seeing the works of art on display in the shop; many of which were either really well-made, or had ingenious mechanisms to make them special. An example of the former was a red katana blade roughly two feet in length and a solid tang…a weapon as good indoors as it was out, and was exceptionally strong. As to the latter, one only needed to look at the massive hand-axe that hung on the wall; it seemed ordinary enough at first glance, but Naruto knew that it was capable of transforming into an even bigger weapon.

Many of the weapons on display were sinfully expensive works of fully-functional art, but they were all worth every ryō invested in them. And while they specialized in weapons, Higurashi Byakuya and Higurashi Kanshō also occasionally made custom-tailored suits of armor for shinobi and kunoichi that specialized in heavy assault roles. Each suit they made required the wearer to come to them in person to get measurements and sketches on how it would look.

The particular piece they passed by was a suit of armor on a mannequin made from strong quilted cloth and thin, overlapping plates of hardened steel that conformed to the contours of the wearer's body. Every piece was made to rest on -and be supported by- the body part it was meant to protect, therefore granting better weight distribution than traditional samurai armor without slowing down a shinobi. And to increase its wearer's survivability and the armor's durability, Byakuya and Kanshō had taken to studying a bit of fūinjutsu to make the armor every bit as practical as it was beautiful.

"A real shame that client backed out at the last minute," mused Naruto, "he could've looked cool while kicking ass."

"That guy was a pretentious idiot that thought he could afford quality," a voice snapped from behind. Naruto turned around, recognizing the owner of that voice to belong to a soot-covered woman in an apron. "And to be honest, that's just fine," She mused, admiring the amount of work she and her husband had put into making it, "it's still attracting a lot of _paying_ customers, so it's pretty much paying for itself. All we need is for someone to buy it and it'd be even better. In the meantime, that coward's blacklisted from this store until he takes responsibility for his end of the commission."

She wore welding goggles pulled over coffee-colored eyes that looked at the armor with no small amount of pride. Higurashi Byakuya was a striking woman that had recovered her slender, feline form well after giving birth to Tenten. Her skin showed signs of an upbringing on the upper crust of society before time had given it a pretty healthy tan. Her long, black hair was gathered in a functional bun behind her head.

A quick look downward from the corner of her eye at her daughter and ward caused a shiver to creep up their spines. Both were startled from the sudden movement, the grin on her face making the sensation even worse. "Just like you two have a responsibility to get to school before I decide to not cook you anything for dinner tonight."

When she had seen that neither of them had left, Byakuya's grin only widened. "Well? Why aren't you two at school yet?"

A few seconds was all it took for Naruto and Tenten to speed out the door, leaving a laughing Byakuya behind. She always enjoyed terrifying them this way, as it always ensured that they would get to school sooner.

…

[Konoha Ninja Academy]

Iruka walked up to the podium with the usual scene that would accompany a morning such as this.

Akimichi Choji was sitting down, chilling with his friend Nara Shikamaru while snacking on his chips. Knowing the clan he came from, it'd be best to let him have that bag of chips and to avoid calling him the f-word lest they suffer the consequences. Nearby was Inuzuka Kiba, pretty much having a staring contest with Rock Lee, the former of whom was obviously trying to to blink without laughing at his opponent.

At the center of attention was Uchiha Sasuke, sitting and brooding with Hyūga Neji right next to him. The two of them were surrounded by girls their age, cooing and asking them for dates. Sasuke was very rudely ignoring them; at the very least, Neji was polite enough to ask his fangirls to leave him be so that he could continue to glare at his cousin. The two of them had the potential to be 'rookie of the year' in their particular age groups…with Sasuke being number two among the boys at the moment.

Mixed in with the other fangirls were Yamanaka Ino and Haruno Sakura; likely the biggest of them all. True, their focus was on Sasuke, but that didn't make them any different from the other harpies. What they saw in the last Uchiha, Iruka had no idea…especially since he just ignored them as much as he did the other fangirls. Still, he had to hand it to the unofficial presidents of the 'Sasuke Fan-Club'; even through their competitive rivalry for the boy's affections, they still remained friends. Not exactly a steady friendship, but still a friendship nonetheless and for that he was thankful that it did not get any worse than that. That, and they were actually nice to Hinata-chan, who sat alone withering under her cousin's glare.

Hinata however, found her mood lightening the second Naruto and Tenten had entered the classroom. True, her gaze was on Naruto, but the fact that her other friend had appeared made things even better. Were there more girls to pay attention to the armored student, she would very likely be able to start her own fanclub. But for now, she enjoyed watching as the two of them approached her section…allowing her to shrug off Neji's glare now that her friends had come to greet her.

There was something off with the picture; something Iruka couldn't put his finger on. Naruto and Tenten were acting pretty well-behaved, which triggered alarms in his mind. Normally, the two of them were very rowdy, behaving like a brother-sister duo as they bickered over whatever it was that brothers and sisters fought over (Iruka wouldn't know, he was an only-child). Today, they were relatively calm as they brought Hinata in on a new topic that he could not hear.

 _Something's off_. Iruka thought to himself as he walked to the podium. It was especially the case when he noted that Naruto did not bring his training naginata with him this time…normally, he'd be reluctant to let go of it, even in taijutsu practice. _Feels like I'm about to get my bad karma._ Heaving an exasperated sigh, he continued to walk towards the podium. _Let's get it over with._

The students looked in his direction, watching as he set up for the lesson. "Alright class, let's get this done and…" Iruka would've said more had he not been catapulted off his feet upon stepping behind the podium. He then landed on a nearby chair, watching as something was launched into his face. Quick reflexes had him pick up a nearby book and shield his face with a loud 'splat!' Unfortunately, the trap was not done yet; he then watched as two large cages fell to the ground, filled with black contents. The slight cawing and the little reddish-brown eyes he caught a glimpse of made his fears even worse…especially as they flew around, dropping black feathers everywhere as they tried to attack him. From how aggressive the crows were, they were probably pretty hungry; and much to Iruka's horror, there was quite a lot of food splattered on him.

There was nothing for Iruka to do except to run away lest he was pecked to death by the murder of crows hot on his tail, screaming and cawing for food. Tenten looked to Naruto with a bit of amusement on her features. "You do realize he's gonna kill you when he finds out?" she whispered.

In response, Naruto snorted. "With how complicated this one was, I'm willing to bet that it's gonna be pinned on Shikamaru."

"NARUTO! YOU'RE GOING TO GET DETENTION AFTER SCHOOL!" came Iruka's shout from the distance.

Tenten giggled. "Spoke too soon." she said, revelling in Naruto's look of shock. He then sighed, his last words being, "Totally worth it."

…

[Sparring grounds]

It cost the entirety of the history lesson, but Iruka was able to shake off the crows and get himself a new set of clothes. The students gathered did their best to not laugh as the teacher glared at one particular student in particular. Naruto on the other hand, simply stood there; waiting patiently as the pairings were called up…with Mizuki standing by, ready to hand out the list of names.

"Since we've wasted time in getting rid of the crows, we're going to skip all the way to the sparring sessions," began Iruka, after being given the list of matchups, "and it looks like the first match will be Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto."

Naruto's eyes had widened. This was exactly the sort of matchup he didn't want; not simply because he would lose to Sasuke, but because he was afraid of accidentally triggering his quake powers during the fight. It was made even harder when he was unable to use his naginata. Besides, win or lose, he'd have fangirls stomping towards him to start giving the Uchiha no small amount of unrequited praise.

"Naruto, I know you've heard this all before, but before you come on down, take off your armor." said Iruka. "If you don't, you'll be disqualified and Sasuke wins the match by default."

There was a heavy sigh as the fangirls agreed loudly with Iruka. Some of them called him a wimp for even wearing his naginata-do armor. "All right, fine!" Naruto snapped, "Sheesh! You don't have to play favorites with me! I mean, I don't see _you_ taking off your flak jacket! Isn't that armor already?"

"That's different! I earned the right to wear it!" Iruka admonished, "For you, it's not fair on the other students and you might break someone's hand on it. And besides, don't you know that armor is too heavy to be practical?"

"Ha! You obviously have not come to the Daishōgun and tried on the armor on display!" Naruto shouted, as he pulled off every piece of armor from his body; at this point, he wore nothing but a gi and a hakama…overall, giving him the appearance of an aikido practitioner. The only piece of armor he was allowed to keep on were the pair of kote, as they were soft enough to act as fighting gloves and had five fingers so as not to limit him to either striking or grappling techniques. "What, you too chicken to put on a few plates of metal?"

His opponent came on over to the arena, seemingly confident in his victory. His attitude never showed on his face, but it was there in his stride. Naruto never really understood why Sasuke had such a bleak outlook on life, but it never killed to smile at least once. The Last Uchiha never even seemed to revel in his victory whenever they sparred…come to think of it, he only ever got along fine with Hyūga Neji, and both were miserable sods who wouldn't know happiness if it hit them in their scowling faces.

As soon as the suneate came off and were neatly stacked with the dō, Naruto went to the arena himself. If Byakuya _or_ Kanshō ever found out he lost any part of his bogu because he was sloppy, they would kill him dead; understandable, considering that the entire set wasn't easy to make. All those layers of boiled leather did not seem easy to shape, much less to his measurements. It only took more time to make considering the amount of lacquer used to harden the armor.

With only the kote, he was prepped for the fight. He and Sasuke bowed before the two of them assumed the standard academy taijutsu stance; profiles minimized, left hand and foot forward, weight on the right foot, right hand ready for striking. Naruto simply took a deep breath, allowing the tension to collect before letting out a calming sigh. Win or lose, he had to be confident that he would not make a fool of himself…especially not with Tenten and Hinata-chan watching.

Iruka's hand went down, beginning the spar with a loud 'Hajime!'

As usual, Sasuke began the fight quickly; at least this time, he didn't even try a sucker-punch. However, he _did_ fake Naruto out with that first punch, and landed an even heavier one in his face that caused him to reel backwards. Luckily, Naruto had learned to take a hit better―he regained his balance at the last moment to catch Sasuke by the sides of his head to headbutt him. With his opponent disoriented from the sudden strike, Naruto could've taken advantage of the moment to kick him out of the rink…were he not also disoriented from headbutting Sasuke in the forehead.

Fortunately, he was able to recover from the hit sooner than Sasuke, and moved in to continue the spar. Sasuke tried to keep some distance away from Naruto with a jump-kick, but Naruto grabbed him by the leg and allowed reflex to do the rest; Sasuke hit the rubber ground of the ring, bouncing several times off the ground before rolling away and rising on his feet. The look on his face was livid, as Naruto looked back at him with a bit of nervousness.

"Since when did you get this good, dobe?" he snarled.

"Since I've been getting my ass owned by people better than you." Naruto replied with a bit of confidence this time.

"Bullshit!" Sasuke snapped, "How can you keep getting stronger if you don't win at all?"

"Winning isn't everything, dumbass!" Naruto yelled back, "Losing a lot of fights to opponents better than you can be good for you too, especially when you learn from them! What've _you_ been doing aside from brooding all day long?!"

Sasuke said nothing; instead, he charged. Any sort of control he would've had in the match was dispelled as rage fuelled his mind. His pride wouldn't accept a loss, much less to the dead-last of the academy. The punches he threw were fast and strong, but he still had just enough control to ensure that they were accurate. Naruto had a hard time trying to block and dodge as Sasuke wound up faking him out several times, giving him no opening for a counter.

Desperate to finish the fight quickly, Naruto managed to duck under a punch, rise up into a shoulder tackle and push Sasuke back to gain some breathing space. The last Uchiha regained his balance just in time to avoid a ring-out. His charge this time was so fast that Naruto panicked, ducked to avoid a kick. As he began his counter, Naruto wound up for a punch that -much to his shock- cracked the air between his their fists inches away from impact as they seemed to vie for control. The look of horror on his face contradicted the morbid curiosity that was on everyone's faces (especially Sasuke's) as the air cracked even further.

For this, Naruto had only one word: "Shit."

The air finally shattered, redirecting Sasuke's fist and throwing him off as the punch's trajectory continued unimpeded. The Last Uchiha bounced on the floor several times before writhing on the floor in pain. Naruto quickly looked around and felt the ground before letting out a sigh of relief; there was no quake coming, but he didn't doubt that Sasuke would have a broken arm after today. And for that, he was thankful; he could've destroyed the entire school from that one accident.

Either way, he knew that he'd be having words with Iruka-sensei pretty soon.

…

 _ **A/N: And we're done. And in regards to Naruto, "Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad."**_

…

 _ **Vocabulary**_

 _ **Dō―a cuirass worn in kendo training**_

 _ **Suneate―a pair of greaves**_

 _ **Kote―normally, this would be a pair of armored sleeves or regular gauntlets.**_

 _ **Naginata―a Japanese glaive…or halberd if you like.**_

 _ **tanren bō—a big, heavy bat that is primarily used for cutting practice…although it could also be used for other sports such as baseball and golf to train swinging strength. It is mainly used in aikidō to build up arm strength.**_

 _ **Kanabo—also called a 'tetsubo' (**_ _ **鉄棒**_ _ **), this is a big, heavy mace or studded war club that samurai sometimes use; it's so heavy that there's a specific martial arts style dedicated to its use known as 'kanabojutsu' that teaches its practitioners skill to recover from missed swings. Due to its weight, it's also known as the weapon of choice for the oni.**_

…

 _ **Cameos/References**_

 _ **Naruto's outfit—pretty much a modified version of what you'd expect a naginatado practitioner to wear. Naginatado practitioners pretty much wear the same attire as a kendoka (a padded gi, a hakama, a pair of tabi, a pair of kote, a dō, and a men), with the addition of a pair of greaves due to the fact that in naginatado, strikes to the leg are allowed.**_

 _ **Red blade—Sam Rodriguez's Murasama blade.**_

 _ **Transforming Axe—the Hunter's Axe from "Bloodborne".**_

 _ **Kanshō and Byakyua―pretty much the namesake of Archer EMIYA's swords; they were named after a legendary Chinese swordsmith couple who produced the finest swords in the world. Kanshō (Chinese name: Gān Jiàng (**_ _ **干將**_ _ **)) is the husband, and Byakuya (Chinese name: Mò Yé (**_ _ **莫邪**_ _ **)) is the wife.**_


End file.
